Romanian Summer
by Euphoria123
Summary: After the war, Hermione finishes her 7th year at Hogwarts. But the war had taken its toll and she has troubles coping with what happened. When she gets the opportunity to work in Romania, she decides to take a year off. Finally she'll get to know Charlie
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The wonderful HP universe belongs to J.K. Rowling

A big thank you to my wonderful Beta Clover Bay!

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**Romanian Summer**

**Chapter 1**

_Hogwarts: Hermione's and Ginny's graduation party_

"So, my dear, what are your plans now for the future?"

Hermione groaned inwardly but put a polite smile on her face nonetheless.

"I'm planning on studying magical law." She would strangle the next one who asked that question, she had been asked the same bloody question a million times in the last few weeks. She looked at the wizard in front of her. He looked familiar, an order member, but she couldn't remember his name.

"Oh I'm sure we'll hear great things of you," the wizard replied smiling indulgently.

Hermione nearly rolled her eyes, but stopped herself at the last moment. She just mumbled a reply and quickly made her way outside towards the lake.

After returning to Hogwarts to complete her seventh and final year, Hermione found herself as she always envisioned: top of her class, surrounded by friends, enjoying a perfect day. Instead of the pride and happiness she thought she would feel, though, the reality of the day was exhaustion and loneliness.

True she still had her friends. It was also Ginny's graduation party and almost the whole Weasley clan was there. But she felt somewhat alone in a sea of people.

Neither of her two best friends had returned to school with her. Harry had started Auror training a year ago, while Ron had helped out George in the shop. But Ron planned to start Auror training this fall. Ginny would be playing Quidditch professionally for the Holyhead Harpies next season (she still couldn't believe it and would start squealing and jumping around every other moment).

Hermione also missed the close relationship she had with her parents; she had gone to Australia to find them, and successfully restored their memories.

Her parents had been very upset and disappointed at the beginning, but they had talked a lot, Hermione had told them everything that had happened during the last seven years. Her parents had gone through various emotions: shock, anger, bewilderment before they had finally started to understand. To understand that this was a world completely different from their own, a world they would never fully understand and a world they couldn't follow Hermione in.

They didn't want to lose their only daughter but it would take a while until the trust would be restored and even though the relationship was still strained, it had started to heal.

Hermione had been disappointed when her parents had decided to not come back to England with her, at least not yet. She would be going to visit them in Australia soon, but she still wished they would be there.

XYX

"Okay Hermione see we've got a room for you, we haven't done anything 'cause we thought we'd let you decorate it," Ron exclaimed enthusiastically.

Hermione looked around, the room was neither small nor big, it was light and except for a closet, a bed and a desk it was empty. She liked it, she could do something with it.

Harry had sold Grimmauld Place and moved into a flat in Diagon Alley with Ron. And now Hermione would be moving in with them too.

She was glad everything had gone back to normal with Ron. After she had kissed him during the final battle (she still wondered what possessed her to do it) they had a short and awkward – she didn't even know what to call it - that they had maybe a fling or intermezzo. Very soon, however, they both realized that it would be better for their sanity (and that of those around them) if they just stayed friends.

Ron discovered some of the perks of being a war hero, more precisely that it drew the ladies towards him like moths to the flame. Needless to say that he took full advantage of that.

Harry had been relieved when they broke up and decided to stay friends, their constant bickering had been driving him nuts. While Ron enjoyed the attention he got from the fairer sex, Harry didn't. He had already found the one he wanted and after he had charmed her back into his arms he was determined to never let her go. Luckily Ginny was rather feisty and put some of Harry's rather forward admirers to flight with a well aimed hex.

The day after moving in with her two best friends, Hermione went shopping for some furniture to make her room more homey. She didn't have much time before she left to visit her parents in Australia.

Her parents were happy when she arrived; the last time they've seen her was during the Christmas holidays. Hermione enjoyed being spoiled by them. Her Mum would make her favourite dishes and they all went on excursions together.

They were proud of her and approved of her decision to study magical law; unlike Transfiguration or Arithmancy, law was something they could relate to.

Even though she had felt more content and at ease there with her parents than she had in a while, her mother still sensed that something was wrong with her and decided to address it one evening.

They sat together on the patio with soft music playing in the background and a bottle of red wine on the table, when her mother suddenly said, "Hermione, I can't help but think that something is wrong with you."

"Oh, what makes you think that?" Hermione replied, unsure whether she felt like talking about it or not.

"You're pale and you got thin, you look tired and I know that you don't sleep well and you just don't seem to be as interested and enthusiastic about things as you used to be."

Hermione chose not to answer and instead took another sip from her wine. So her mother continued, "You've been through a lot and you didn't take your time to process everything that had happened. You went back to Hogwarts right away, maybe you need some time for yourself, maybe you need professional help…"

"I don't need professional help," Hermione replied fiercly, "the others move on just fine with their lives so why shouldn't I be able to do so as well."

Her mother sighed, "You can't look into another person; you don't know how fine they are, and even if you could, everybody handles those kind of things differently."

"We won the war, we're supposed to have our happily ever after now," Hermione huffed.

"Life is not a fairy tale, Hermione."

"I know, but I don't have any reason to feel like this. I mean we won the war so we don't have to fear for our lives anymore, and I graduated top of my class. I can have any career I chose and I do want to study magical law, I've wanted that since fourth year, but now the thought of going to university and study just makes me feel.. I don't know what I feel – I guess that is the problem, that I don't feel anything actually," Hermione felt that she was starting to lose control over all those feelings she had carefully suppressed for a year now.

Her mother took her into her arms while Hermione started crying.

"It's gonna be alright," she murmured into her daughters ear, holding her tight.

After a while when Hermione's sobs had died down, her mother said carefully, "You could take some time off."

"And do what?" Hermione sniffled.

"You could stay with us here, or go travelling or something."

"I'll think about it."

XYX

Hermione had been back to England for a few days. She had already bought any book she could get her hands on, on magical law in general and the enslavement of the house elves in particular. But for the first time in her life she actually had to force herself to open a book.

Her mother's idea of taking time off, sounded more and more appealing. She just didn't know what she should do, she didn't really feel like staying with her parents and then do what, travelling sounded good but she didn't want to go alone and she was not the type of person to just sit around and wait and see, she needed a plan.

This evening when they were at the Burrow for dinner, Molly told them excitedly that she had good news.

"So what news do you have for us, Mum," Ginny asked curiously.

"Well, Charlie invited us all to the Dragon preserve." She said happily.

"I'm in." Ginny, Ron and George cried simultaneously.

"What about you dears?" Molly looked at Hermione and Harry expectantly.

"Oh, we're invited too." Harry said surprised, "well I'll have to see if I can get a few days off."

"And what about you Hermione?"

"I'm in."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: The HP universe belonges to J.K. Rowling

Another big thank you to my awesome Beta Clover Bay!

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Hermione happily packed her things again, she was really looking forward to this trip. It was Arthur, Molly the three youngest Weasley children, Harry and her who would be going.

Bill and Fleur didn't want to travel yet, since Victoire was still so young. And Percy couldn't get time off from work.

When they arrived at the preserve Charlie welcomed them with a broad grin and a torn, blood-stained shirt.

"Charlie my boy," Mrs Weasley cried happily hugging her second eldest son tightly around his middle, the top of her head only reaching up to his chin. "What happened to you dear?" She asked worridly once she took his dishevelled appearance in.

"Ah just work. Lara is a little touchy today and I got in her way. I didn't have time to change yet." Charlie replied casually.

His mother looked as if she was going to faint, "Lara?" she stammered.

"Yeah our newest addition - a Chinese fireball, only two years old and quite temperamental, she's a beauty. I'll introduce you later. Let me show you where you'll be staying."

Charlie led the way and everybody followed eagerly, only Molly's knees seemed to have gone slightly weak. There was a difference between knowing what your son did for a living and then actually being there and seeing it, sometimes she could curse the Weasley traits to be brave, daring and adventurous.

They were to stay in three tents, one for Molly and Arthur, one for the boys and one for the girls. Their accommodation was in the visitor area that was a few hundred metres away from the actual preserve. Visitors were only allowed inside the preserve with one of the staff members.

"Okay get settled in while I get showered and changed; after that I'll pick you up to give you a tour." Charlie said and left quickly.

Half an hour later he was back looking fresh and clean.

Together they entered the preserve. All of them were slightly nervous especially Harry since this reminded him of his last encounter with a dragon in his fourth year.

They walked around and Charlie happily told them anecdotes and facts about the dragons. The whole preserve was in a rocky mountain area. Each dragon had its own enclosure because they prefer their solitude. They walked along a small trail that led them through the hilly terrain. To the left and right of the trail was a steep hillside, ropes on each side where the only security measures.

Most dragons lay on cliffs dozing in the sun, only few preferred the coolness of their caves.

"Can't they just escape and fly away, I mean they're not in a cage or anything?" Hermione asked timidly.

"Oh no they can't we've put quite a lot of spells on each areal to prevent that," Charlie replied.

After Charlie had let them around the preserve for good two hours, they were all starving. They had dinner together at the staff kitchen, since Charlie cooked, the meal turned out to be rather humble.

"Well, you actually have kitchens in your tents, so tomorrow you can go to the nearby town, to get food and then prepare your own meals," Charley said meekly after he saw the rather unhappy faces of his siblings after they tried his cooking.

They also met some of his co-workers there. Svetlana a middle aged Russian woman and Matti from Finland were dragon keepers like Charlie, then there were also Deidre from Ireland and Julia from Germany the two mediwitches. They all seemed really nice and outgoing and welcomed them to the preserve warmly.

"So tomorrow, I'll have to work until three o'clock. But you guys can either go to the nearby wizarding town, or you can go the preserve they have here for rare plants, then there is also a lake not far away where you can go swimming. I'll pick you up at 3:30." Charlie told them on their way back to their tents.

That night Hermione was able to sleep almost until sunrise before she was woken up by nightmares. She spent the next few hours until the others woke up sitting outside the tent watching the sky turn from black to red and light blue. Her thoughts came and left she was too exhausted to pay them too much attention.

Soon after breakfast the day turned out to be unbearably hot, so they decided to spend the day by the lake that Charlie had told them about. When Charlie arrived later it was still too hot to do anything so he joined them in the water.

In the evening when it finally started to cool down they went to the wizarding town. It was only a twenty minute walk away. They bought some groceries at the market and then went to a small restaurant to have some authentic Romanian food.

For the next day Charlie had offered them to watch the feeding of the dragons. So at 11 o'clock they waited in front of the visitor entrance to the preserve where Charlie wanted to pick them up.

Hermione wasn't sure whether that was a sight one really had to have experienced and it seemed Molly thought along the same lines since she looked slightly nauseated. The others, however, where already chatting excitedly.

Charlie and Matti were supposed to feed the four Romanian Longhorns, the two Hebridean Blacks, the Antipodean Opaleye, and finally Lara the Chinese Fireball.

Both men flew on brooms into the enclosure of the first Romanian Longhorn. Usually the dragons knew that they would be fed at this time of day and where a bit more peaceful than they normally were, but no dragon keeper ever went into the enclosures on their own.

Inside the enclosure they dropped two dead sheep and a goat and quickly left the enclosure again. Hermione found it quite a revolting sight to see the dead bodies of the animals plummet to the ground, the dragon managed to catch the first sheep before it hit the ground and swallowed it whole, then it continued devouring the rest of its meal.

These procedure was repeated with the other dragons as well, Hermione had taken on observing more the dragons and less their food and found it remarkably less nauseating.

She came to the conclusion, however, that both the Romanian Longhorn and the Hebridean Black were rather ugly creatures.

The Antipodean Opaleye was less happy to see Charlie and Matti even though they brought her food. She spit fire at them and screeched viciously. It was sitting on a huge nest on a cliff near the bottom of the mountain. Ah that explains it, thought Hermione, she is protecting her egg.

The two dragon keepers deftly escaped her flames but at one point Matti was not quite fast enough and the end of his broom caught fire, but Charlie extinguished it without further ado with a wave of his wand, now all of them understood why no dragon keeper ever went into the enclosures alone.

The Opaleye watched the two men closely until they left her enclosure before she went to get her food. When the dragon moved, Hermione was surprised to see how beautiful she was. Her scales shimmered in the sunlight like pearls and her moves were gracefully.

They were all very curious to meet Lara that Charlie had told them about. When they arrived at her enclosure they were surprised to see Svetlana there waiting for them. But soon they understood why she was there.

The fireball really was temperamental. As soon as she realized someone was there she came out to investigate and it was pretty clear soon that she wouldn't mind spicing up her diet with some humans. Charlie and Matti had to fire several stunning spells at her and then put up a magical cage that locked her in while they left several pigs for her.

As fast as their brooms would fly they left the enclosure and only a few second afterwards Lara was conscious again and angry and roaring and spitting fire in their general direction. Then she saw the pigs and was somewhat appeased and started to devour them happily.

Ron's only comment was: "That was so cool! I'm starving what's there to eat for lunch?"

While Hermione still wasn't smitten with the creatures she felt more interested in them now than before. So she asked Charlie if he had some books he could lend her.

He just grinned at her broadly and handed her three books the next time they've met.

XYX

Hermione had started to wander off alone whenever the opportunity arose. She had come to love the preserve for rare plants that was situated in a semi circle around the dragon preserve. She just walked along the small trails passing by huge trees, herbs that made the air around them smell enticing and flowers with delicately shaped blossoms in all kind of colours.

It was absolutely peaceful, the only sounds being the chirping of the birds and the soft rustle of the leaves. Hermione loved to just lay in the grass underneath a tree, feeling the sun and the wind on her skin and in her hair with her eyes closed while she concentrated on the heavy and sweet smell in the air and the noises around her.

She felt absolutely at peace a feeling she had almost forgotten about.

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_Feel free to leave a review_


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: guess what, I still don't own HP :(

Again a big thank you to my wonderful Beta Clover Bay

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Hermione slept a lot better than before but she still woke up before everybody else in the morning. On one of those mornings she decided to go for a walk. She went to the general direction of the dragon preserve and soon found herself in front of the visitor entrance.

She peeked inside and saw Charlie passing by, getting ready to start his workday.

"Morning Charlie," she called out softly.

Surprised he turned his head and walked over to her. "Morning", he said, "you're an early riser."

"Yeah, I don't sleep much." She answered, avoiding his gaze.

He nodded understandingly, then he said all of a sudden, "Come in, I want to show you something."

She followed him in and they walked in silence for a few minutes until they reached a huge tent.

Out of the tent came a woman in her thirties, she had short dark blond hair and her tan and athletic figure told you that she spent a lot of time outdoors.

"Morning Charlie, oh you got a helper today." She smiled.

"Yeah, I got myself an assistant today, this is Hermione, a friend of my youngest brother," Charlie replied then turning to Hermione he added, "this is Jen, she is a zoologist and here to study the dragons."

Hermione and Jen nodded at each other and then Jen left to start with her work.

Charlie led Hermione into the tent, inside where small enclosures that looked like miniature versions of the real ones outside down to the miniature mountains and all.

Hermione looked at them in wonder still following Charlie. He stopped in front of one of the mini enclosures and Hermione saw that there was a small dragon sitting on the cliff of one of his miniature mountains.

"This is Ben, he said, he is an Antipodean Opaleye, his mother died because of a sickness that is why he is here"

Charlie carefully took out the baby dragon that just cracked open one eye to see what was going on and then snuggled closer to the hand that was holding him.

Hermione took a closer look at him and saw that he also had those beautiful pearly scales. She cooed at him when she saw him cuddling with Charlie's hand. He was so small and pretty you could almost forget what a huge and scary creature he would become soon.

"The other Opaleye we saw the other day was also protecting an egg," Hermione stated.

"You're quite observant," Charlie answered,"yes we expect the little guy to hatch any day now."

"How old is that one here?" Hermione asked.

"He is six days old now, he hatched one day before you guys arrived, his mother had died before already, we had to breed the egg," his voice sounded sad.

When she looked at him, she saw a softness in his face that she had never seen there before, and while he softly cradled the little dragon in his calloused hands, she realized that there was a soft and almost nurturing side to him that she had never encountered before, that she hadn't thought was even there, he always seemed so strong and rough like a rock and she understood that he deeply cared for and loved his dragons.

After feeding Ben, Charlie took Hermione to visit Norberta. The dragon Hagrid had taken care of while she was still in the egg and her, Harry and Ron had watched hatch.

Norberta had grown quite a bit since the last time Hermione had seen her. She greeted Charlie affectionately by breathing a stream of fire in his direction that was deflected by the charms surrounding her enclosure.

Hermione took a step back but Charlie simply laughed.

"She's one of the more docile ones around here, but stay clear from her when she is in a bad mood she's gonna roast you like a chicken."

Hermione just looked at him incredulously. One of the more docile ones? She thought. And once again she wondered why someone would take care of these beasts out of his or her free will.

Suddenly they heard Matti's amplified voice calling all dragon keepers to Henry's enclosure, since the dragon was wounded.

Charlie excused himself hastily and darted off, Hermione followed him unsure of what to do.

When she arrived at Henry's enclosure she already saw several dragon tamers waiting outside. She wondered briefly why they would need so many dragon tamers to deal with one wounded dragon, but soon she understood why.

The dragon tamers went inside the enclosure on their brooms their wands at ready. They had to get the dragon out of his cave to treat him. Once the dragon, however, realized that there were intruders in his enclosure he came out by himself.

And now Hermione understood why they needed so many dragon tamers. The dragon was huge, he was by far larger than the other dragons she had seen. He was metallic grey and his eyes shone blood red. From what she had learned about dragons so far, this one must be an Ukrainian Ironbelly, the largest dragons.

Hermione shuddered, the beast certainly was not a nice sight and enough to give anyone nightmares.

He was roaring and spitting fire and trying to rip anyone apart with his large talons who came too close.

Hermione flinched everytime she saw that one of the dragon tamers was hit. They sent stunning spell after stunning spell at the dragon and finally the beast fell to the ground with a loud howl.

Immediately some of the dragon tamers started to tend to his wound. Hermione saw now that his one wing stood off in a weird angle and seemed to bleed. The others hovered around in a circle on their brooms and send an occasional stunning hex at the dragon to keep him unconscious.

After they finished the dragon tamers quickly left the enclosure. Now Hermione saw that most of them were injured. The two medi witches were already waiting for them outside. They looked over at Hermione and asked her whether she knew some healing spells. She could just nod numbly, still chalk white and shaking from the sight she had just witnessed.

After treating the first one who had a broken ankle, she got back to her normal practical self. She looked for Charlie, when she found him she saw that his leg was bleeding profusely. His pants were torn, and the cut was quite deep, he was actually lucky that he still had a leg. Hermione at once got to work, she poured several potions on his wound and then started a healing spell so the skin would grow back together.

She admired Charlie's stoic expression for a second, he hadn't complained once during her treatment, Ron would have gone ballistic already, she figured that he must be used to this kind of procedure.

"So does this happen a lot?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"No, there are actually less serious incidents then one might expect, of course there are a lot of minor things like small burns and scratches, but nothing big like this." Charlie answered, "It's just the Ironbellies really are vicious devils."

"I guess we shouldn't tell your Mum about this incident," Hermione said thoughtfully.

Charlie just laughed, "I guess we shouldn't."

XYX

Several days later and only two days before they had to go back home Hermione was again sitting under what she now called "her tree" in the preserve for magical plants reading one of Charlie's dragon books.

She was a little sad that soon she would have to leave her little paradise again.

Suddenly a shadow fell on the side she was reading, when she looked up she looked straight into Charlie's smiling face.

"Thought I would find you here," he said. "I've heard you've come to like it here."

"Yes, it's just so peaceful", she said, "I just love all the smells and colours around me, I would love to stay here longer." Hermione stopped, she hadn't meant to say the last part.

Charlie looked at her for a moment, then he suddenly said, "Well then you should stay here."

"What, stay here? I can't just stay here, what am I supposed to do?" She suddenly started to feel shy around him again.

"They're looking for someone to work here in the preserve." Charlie replied.

"But I don't know much about plants," Hermione stuttered.

"I'm sure you had an O in your herbology Newts," he joked. "Besides, I think they only need someone to do the dirty work."

She still had an indecisive expression on her face so Charlie added, "Well just think about it. But now we should go back, the others had sent me to get you for dinner."

Hermione followed him back to where the others were, deep in thought. Staying and working here sounded tempting, it would be a spur of the moment thing, something she usually didn't do, but she really didn't feel like going back to England at the moment.

Yes she would think about it, she decided.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: The HP universe belongs to J.K. Rowling

A thank you to my wonderful Beta Clover Bay!

* * *

The next day Hermione stole away to the administration building for the preserve for magical plants.

She asked for the person who was in charge of hiring staff and soon found herself sitting across from a middle aged women whose hair rivalled hers in bushiness. Five minutes later she had a job. She left the office feeling giddy. She would start on Monday, two days from now, one day after the others had left.

She felt a little nervous about telling them about her plan, since she hadn't told them before what she was up to.

To say that they were surprised when she told them about her plans would be an understatement. After the initial shock, however, they were all very supportive of her idea, even Ron and Harry after some grumbling, after all they had hoped to be able to spend more time with her now that she would be living with them.

That evening they all had a big goodbye feast, since the Weasleys and Harry would be leaving the next morning. Hermione would go with them to pack her stuff and then take another interational Portkey in the evening to come back to the preserve.

Her contract was for six months, after that she could either extend her contract or quit and spend the time till university would start in fall in whatever way she wanted.

The workers from the preserve for magical plants and dragons lived together in what looked like a little village. Always three people shared one hut together, every one had their own bedroom, they shared a common room with a little kitchenette and a bathroom.

Then there was the hut where they all could get together, there was a common room and a kitchen available for everybody (where most preferred to eat), there was also a floo connection for those who lived with their families and always flooed in for their shift. Couples who both worked at the preserve could also get their own hut, those were a little smaller then the normal ones.

In one hut was the infirmary situated and Deirdre and Julia were well stocked with healing potions and other medical equipment.

On Sunday evening after she came back from getting her stuff back in England (and a teary goodbye from Harry and the Weasleys) she met her roommates.

One was Ana, she was from Romania and worked at the preserve as a herbologist. She was a tiny woman in her fifties, her posture was straight and proud, her dark hair that slowly started to turn grey was held back in a tight bun (Hermione would soon learn that that was how she always wore her hair). Her English was rather poor and she spoke with a thick accent that was hard to understand for Hermione in the beginning. She seemed gruffy but Hermione soon learned that she had a heart of gold.

The other roommate was Tina. She was dutch and when Hermione met her the first time she thought she met an older version of Luna Lovegood. Tina was around thirty with long light brown hair that she always wore open. She had a dreamy expression on her face at all times. All Tina cared about where plants, her dream was to go on expeditions in hitherto undiscovered regions to find new species of plants. Since she hadn't any money herself and she couldn't find anyone who was willing to sponsor her expedition that dream was currently on hold and she worked in the preserve instead, where she crossed different plants and thus created weird mixtures.

They both welcomed Hermione in their own way. Tina simply smiled at her before going outside for a little stroll without actually uttering a single word. Ana looked her up and down very sternly, than she told her with her thick accent that she appreciated her piece and quiet in the evenings and she hoped that Hermione didn't plan on hosting parties at their hut and that the common room was to be kept clean. After having said that much she turned back to the book she had been reading. (Hermione learned later that the girl before had a rather wild lifestyle and used to bring her friends around after a night out to cool off)

After such a hearty welcome Hermione understandably felt rather uncomfortable in her new home. She went to her bedroom to unpack and tried to make herself feel slightly more at home.

She was relieved, however, when half an hour later Charlie came by to take her to the kitchen to have something to eat. Ana had opened the door for him when he came by and Hermione was surprised to learn that Charlie actually spoke Romanian (shortly after that, however, she thought that he had lived long enough here to pick up a thing or two).

Hermione observed his interaction with Ana for a bit. He gave her his easygoing smile that he gave everyone and he seemed to be teasing her about something, since Ana swatted his arm with a mock stern expression. Then she broke into a laugh and her cheeks turned slightly red.

Hermione really admired Charlie's easygoing attitude, he always seemed to feel completely comfortable in his skin and he had the ability to make people feel comfortable around him as well. Even herself, Hermione realized, she also felt at ease around him and usually she felt a little awkward around people she didn't know well.

They prepared some sandwiches together and then went outside to eat them on a little bench and enjoy the warm summer night. With any other guy this might have become awkward but not with Charlie. He chatted happily away about life at the preserve and about the people living and working there. He asked her a few questions, never anything too personal and he even laughed raucously at her attempts at jokes.

The next morning was her first day of work, ever. She was a little excited. Her supervisor was an ancient and thin but wiry looking man. He was Venezuelan, his name was Miguel and he commented everything with coño. In his youth he had been in love with a beautiful witch, but she broke his heart and married someone else. He had then decided to go travelling around the world. A year later he had arrived at the preserve and never left.

He spoke English quite well, though with an accent and he threw in some Spanish expressions now and then.

He had told Hermione with a wink that it was a pleasure to get a beautiful assistant such as her and then laughed loudly when he saw her blush heavily. Hermione soon learned not to take his flirtations serious and even started teasing him back.

On her first day he showed her around and taught her how to weed (and to distinguish the weed from the plant) and water and fertilize the plants properly, and she had to clear the roads of leaves and dirt. Some of the weed didn't go down without a fight and so her hands were full of scratches and blisters by the time she was finished.

She met Charlie in the kitchen where they had dinner together. She told him about her day and he just laughed, when he saw her hands he excused himself for a bit. Hermione started to do the dishes (magically) and then went outside to the bench where they had dinner the night before.

Shortly after that Charlie arrived with a small bowl and bottle in hand. She wondered what that was all about, when Charlie sat next to her and uncorked the bottle and poured its content in the bowl. Of course why hadn't she thought of that herself, it was bubotuber, she had given it to Harry herself back in fifth year when Umbridge made him write lines with her special quill.

Charlie took her smaller hands gently in his and examined her blisters before putting her hands in the bowel.

"I should have thought of that myself", Hermione said, "I guess I am not that good at taking care of myself."

"Well, good thing I am here to take care of you then," Charlie replied laughing.

Hermione looked at him wondering how he had meant that. But neither his voice nor his laughter or the expression on his face while he looked at her gave anything away. So she just laughed along with him.

After a day of physical work that she wasn't used to Hermione was very tired. She felt rather proud of herself after her first day at work, and she slept deep that night and didn't wake up until her alarm clock rang.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: HP still belongs to J.K. Rowling

Another big thank you to my great Beta Clover Bay!

* * *

Hermione enjoyed her work at the preserve. She was hardworking. She got back to her old self and asked thousands of questions every day. Her co-workers saw that she was willing to learn and quite adept so they gave her more and more responsibilities.

She learned how to apply spells, to create the right climate for the plants that weren't originally from Romania and how to harvest different parts of the plants that were used for potions.

Some of the plants weren't so willing to give up their fruits so she often got scratches and blisters as a result. She could have taken care of them herself but she preferred to let Charlie do it, in return she tended to the wounds he got from the dragons.

She soon got to know all the people that lived in the preserve and she made some friends there, but most of her time she still spend with Charlie. In the evenings they had dinner together, often they were joined by their co-workers. On some nights they would go to a pub in the town nearby with some of the other people from the preserve.

She regularly wrote to her parents and to Harry and Ron. Apparently she had mentioned Charlie quite often in her letters since her mother once wrote her back that this Charlie sounds like a great guy and that she would love to meet him one day.

The letters from Harry and Ron were mostly short and not very informative, but apparently they were all doing well.

It was autumn now and that was a busy but also beautiful season at the preserve. Hermione was working busily and more and more often allowed to work unsupervised on more delicate tasks.

One evening shortly before her shift was over it happened. She had cast the heating spell a little too forcefull and destroyed a rather rare plant. She told Miguel who told her gruffily to leave for the day.

Hermione not being used to making mistakes was distraught. She felt horrible and was convinced that she would be fired and that everybody now thought that she was completely incompetent.

When Charlie came to check on her that evening because she hadn't been in the kitchen for dinner, she refused to leave her room. So he decided to bring the food to her instead. Patiently he listened to her berating herself for her stupid mistake. At some point he stopped her, before she could get totally worked up.

He hugged her and told her that everyone made mistakes and that the best thing she could do was learn from it, so that that wouldn't happen to her again and then move on. He drew little circles on her back, while she sniffled into his shirt. He was so calm and his voice was so tranquil and soft that Hermione quickly calmed down.

Then he ordered her to eat the sandwiches he had prepared for her that she hadn't touched yet.

The next morning, she apologised over and over again to Miguel and swore that something like this would never happen again.

Miguel just looked at her amused and said: "Don't worry about that mi amor, things like that happened a lot to me during all these years."

Hermione worked a lot more carefully that day.

XYX

_Hermione lay on the floor writhing in pain while Bellatrix cast the Cruciatus on her over and over again. Then all of a sudden she was in a long hallway trying to run away but she couldn't move no matter how much she willed her feet to run. Then she smelled the foul breath of Greyback and felt his hands greedily running over her body, touching her in private places._

That was when she finally woke up, sweating and panting heavily. She hadn't had any nightmares in a few weeks now and that one had been particularly vivid, even her body was aching.

She didn't dare to go back to sleep that night, she was too scared of having another nightmare. She sighed when she saw that it was only 12:30 in the morning, that would be a long night. So she put her cloak over her pyjamas and went outside for some fresh air.

She slowly walked through the little village and as if on their own accord her feet had taken her to Charlie's hut. She was about to turn to go back, she didn't want to bother him that late, but when she turned back she saw him walking up the way to his hut.

He was surprised when he saw her there but gave her a tired smile.

"I have the first part of the night shift to take care of Bruno and Hilda," he explained yawning widely.

Bruno and Hilda were two Swedish Short Snout Babies that had been taken from a guy who had tried to breed dragons illegally. They were only a few days old and still had to be fed every few hours.

"Are you out for a little night stroll?" Charlie continued asking.

"Well, yes, kind of," Hermione stuttered (she was rather embarrassed that he had caught her in front of his hut) "the truth is I can't sleep, I had a nightmare."

"Must have been some nightmare, you look like a ghost," Charlie commented after getting a better look at her.

Hermione tried to avoid his gaze and stared intently into the darkness to the right of her.

"Come in," he motioned her to follow him inside his hut.

"Oh no, I don't want to bother you, I just go back to my hut and read a bit," Hermione replied anxious.

"You don't bother me, Hermione, now get in," he said patiently.

She followed him hesitantly into his room.

"I'll be right back," with that Charlie left into the direction of the bathroom.

Hermione looked around in his room. It was similar to hers, messier though. His Queen size bed was not made and his clothes were scattered around the room. There was a table on which he had several magazines and newspapers, two chairs and a bookshelf. His closetdoor was half open and when Hermione peeked in she saw that inside was a mess. It seemed Charlie simply put everything in there.

After a few minutes Charlie returned in his pyjamas, his hair still wet, and Hermione wondered how someone could only take such a short time to shower.

"Sorry for the mess," Charlie said while collecting his clothes and stuffing them into his closet. Then he went on to make his bed.

After that they sat on his bed side by side their backs resting on the backrest.

"Do you want to tell me about your nightmares?" he asked softly.

Hermione didn't answer at first, she wasn't sure if she wanted to, she hadn't told anyone about the things she's gone through during the war. Harry and Ron knew most of it, or had a pretty good idea, but they never brought it up and they never talked about their experiences either.

But then she started telling Charlie everything, about her nightmares, about their year on the run, about the night Dumbledore died, about what happened in the ministry, everything simply poured out of her.

After she finished, she realised that Charlie was holding her tight in his arms with one hand playing with her hair. She had no idea how long he had been holding her like that.

She rested her head against his shoulder and let him hold her, even his smell was comforting, he smelled like citrus from his shower gel mixed with his very own sent, she discretely inhaled his intoxicating smell.

Finally Charlie said: "You can sleep here, I promise I won't do anything inappropriate."

Hermione's first thought (to her own surprise) was that she wouldn't mind at all if he did something inappropriate to her, but she didn't voice that thought and simply nodded.

She fell asleep in Charlie's arm, she wasn't scared anymore she felt as though with him by her side nothing could harm her.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: The HP universe belongs to J.K. Rowling

Thank you to my wonderful Beta Clover Bay!

* * *

Hermione woke up just a few hours later, she disentangled herself from Charlie and quietly got up. He was still asleep, so she wrote a quick note thanking him for letting her stay and that she had slept wonderfully. Then she left to go back to her hut, get dressed and start another day of work.

Some of the work she had to do that day didn't require her full concentration so she had time to let her thoughts wander. They wandered to Charlie. She wasn't sure what to make of what happened last night.

They've become rather close friends since she worked here, and she hugged Ron and Harry a lot too, on the run they even had shared a bed occasionally, purely platonic of course, maybe he considered her as something like a sister, after all she's spent a lot of time at his family's place (he, however hadn't been there most of the time), or did he even have romantic feelings for her.

She scoffed at herself at the last thought. Charlie Weasley would surely not feel anything remotely romantic for her, she couldn't be his type, she didn't really know what his type was, but it surely wasn't her.

Besides the Weasley brothers seemed to have a soft spot for stunningly beautiful women. She remembered how Ron had drooled (and still did) over Fleur who, what a coincidence, was married to his eldest brother. And also judging from Ron's conquests she had met, looks seemed to be more important to him than brains, George had started dating Angelina, even Percy's ex girlfriend Denise had been quite a looker, and from all the Weasley brothers she would have considered that she might have the best changes with him.

So Hermione didn't really think that Charlie was the exception who was into plain bookworms.

But he wasn't the type of guy she was into anyway. Now, that thought made her wonder what her type of guy actually was.

Well he would have to be intelligent, interested in many different things, preferably the same she liked, have a great sense of humour and an even greater sense of justice and - here she came to a halt, but surely that couldn't be all she was looking for in a guy - well he should be faithful and loyal and brave and stand up for what he believes in and caring and mature and…

At that point she wondered if she would ever find such a guy, or if it maybe would be wise to compromise - as if it is a conscious decision with whom you fall in love with, she suddenly heard the sarcastic voice of her father saying in her head.

Now her thoughts went back again to Charlie and started to compare him to her list of the perfect guy. Well he wasn't stupid, but he wasn't as studious as she was either, he was very much into the outdoors, which she enjoyed too, he did have a sense of humour even though it sometimes was a little too crude for her taste, they shared some interests at least, she didn't really know his view on houseelves but at least he wasn't prejudiced against Muggleborns, he was loyal and definitely brave, he was caring at least with his dragons and he could be mature if he wanted to.

But besides that he was easygoing and enjoyed having a lot of people around him, while she was a little stuck up and also found merits in solitude, he took setbacks rather easily and didn't worry much about anything, while she took every setback to heart and thought everything through and got really worked up over the silliest things and he seemed to live and breathe only for his dragons, while she still didn't like them much.

By the end of her shift she had reached the conclusion that she surely wasn't Charlie's type and he wasn't hers and things were perfectly fine the way they were between them, just being friends.

That evening they met again for dinner, Charlie had only an hour since he had the first shift again to look after the baby dragons. If it were up to Hermione things between them might have been rather awkward, but Charlie acted like always and just told her that she was welcome for last night which was his reply to her note, and that if she needed someone to talk he would listen, then he moved on to tell her about his day and ask her about hers.

It seemed as if nothing had changed. They spend the next few days doing the same things they had done before.

Then one night, it was just another night like the ones before nothing even remotely special about it, they sat together on their bench, talking, looking at the sky and just enjoying the clear night. It had gotten quite chilly already and Hermione shivered, Charlie then wrapped her in his coat and they continued sitting there side by side with Charlie resting his arm around Hermione's shoulder.

And while they were sitting there, looking at the sky and counting the shooting stars, Hermione inhaled Charlie's sent again and suddenly she realised that she had a huge crush on him.

It didn't matter that he didn't match the criteria on her perfect man list 100%, she didn't think about not being his type, all that mattered, all that she could think of was that she really cared about this man next to her, about how gorgeous he was and about how much she wanted to snog him senseless right there.

Hermione, however, was not the type of girl to take those kind of matters in her own hands, much less to seduce a guy. So her plan of action was to do nothing and wait what happens. If Charlie had feelings for her he should make the first move, she decided.

But Charlie didn't make a move. They still spend a lot of time together, either alone or with their co-workers. Charlie continued flirting with every female in the preserve, whether she was 19 or 90, and didn't treat Hermione any different from how he treated anyone else.

Hermione tried to learn as much as possible about Charlie and sometimes even dared to ask a little more personal questions, he didn't seem to mind.

She learned that he had wanted to become a dragon tamer since he'd been four years old and aunt Muriel had given him a book on dragons. His favourite game back then also had been dragon tamer, he and Bill were the dragon tamers while his Dad was the Dragon.

Apparently he had been very popular with the Ladies during his Hogwarts year (Hermione didn't doubt that), he had loved to help out Hagrid with taking care of any creature Hagrid had picked up and during his last two years at Hogwarts he was even alowed to accompany him into the forbidden forest.

He had discovered the kitchens during his second year and had been a frequent visitor since then. The houseelves pampered him with his favourite treats and if he hadn't played Quidditch he might have grown more horizontally than vertically. As a thank you he would collect wild berries for them, which apparently they loved.

Hermione fell a little harder for him after he confessed his soft spot for houseelves to her.

It wasn't easy for Hermione to not show her feelings for him and act as if they were just friends. She had to stop herself from staring at him for too long, from getting too close to him to smell his scent, from running her fingers through his hair and caressing his muscular arms.

At night she dreamt of him doing all kinds of inappropriate things to her and after she woke up she needed a cold shower first.

But as long as he didn't give her any indication that he liked her in more than just a friend-ly way she wouldn't say anything.

And since Hermione didn't do anything nothing happened.

One night she spend at the Pub with some female colleagues while Charlie had to work and they were busy discussing Deirdre's crush on a guy from the town.

They were analyzing everything he had ever said to her and the way he looked and behaved around her to try and find out where she stood with him.

Their results weren't conclusive and that's when Svetlana decided to share a piece of advice:

"Girl, you've got to tell him how you feel. If he likes you back then great if not you can move on and stop wasting your time."

Some of the girls, however, didn't share the sentiment, they said things like, no the guy should make the first move and the only thing she could do was maybe be a bit more forward when flirting with him, but not so much that he would think that she was desperate or easy.

Poor Deirdre was after that evening even more confused than before, but the discussion had also gotten Hermione thinking.

Maybe she should tell Charlie how she felt, after all she spend years pining after Ron just to find out in the end that it wasn't meant to be. What if another woman came along and snatched him away right under her nose, just because she never said or did anything?

That was one of those times that she wished for a female friend to talk to about these things. She didn't feel close enough to her colleagues to talk to them as openly as Deirdre had. She didn't want to talk to Ginny about her brother that way and she never really had a girl talk with her Mum, since she had spent most of the time since she was eleven away from her parents.

For a fleeting moment she wondered if she should get a book on that topic but then she scoffed at herself.

Maybe she should try to be a little bit more forward and flirty with him to see his reaction?


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: The HP universe still belongs to J.K. Rowling

Another big thank you to my awesome Beta Clover Bay!

* * *

So Hermione started to take a little more care of her appearance before she was to meet him, she smiled at him more brilliantly and she tried to touch him "accidentaly" as much as possible. She knew, however, perfectly well she was not a great seductress, unless the guy was seduced by her vast knowledge.

Also Charlie didn't treat her any different than before and she started to feel a little disheartened. She told herself to simply accept the fact, that Charlie didn't like her that way.

So she went back to how things between them had been before, which mainly meant a lot less akward since she's been very consious about every move she made while trying to seduce him.

So one night they were going for a walk and Hermione told him with much laughing and giggeling the story of Ron and his latest conquest that turned out to be a guy that had used some polyjuice potion. Of course Ron had been too embarrassed to tell her the story, but Ginny had told her everything in great detail in her last letter.

Charlie looked at her surprised and said: "Doesn't that bother you, I thought you and Ron were together."

Now it was her turn to be surprised as she replied: "Well, we kind of had a … a thing right after the war, but that was over almost as soon as it had started. We're better of as friends and now Ron is enjoying the peeks of being a bachelor and a war hero."

Charlie smiled weakly but seemed deep in thought for the rest of the evening.

XYX

Soon the days got shorter and colder and work at the plant preserve was a little less busy. Christmas was approaching and Hermione had vacation for two weeks during the holidays and New Year. She decided to spend the first week with her parents in Australia and the second with the Weasleys and Harry.

Charlie had only gotten one week of vacation over New Year, so she would see him again at the Burrow.

It was quite a change to leave the cold Romanian winter for the hot Australian summer. Hermione enjoyed being spoiled by her parents again and her mother noted happily that her daughter looked a lot healthier and happier than the last time she had seen her.

They spent most of the time at the beach and Hermione was happy and content that the relationship with her parents was closer and better than it had been in years.

Her father approved very much of her working in the preserve, he thought it was good for her to get to know hard work.

Her mother wanted to know more about that Charlie guy that made her daughters eyes shine so much. She listened amused to Hermione's reasoning as to why or why not he might like her more than just a friend. After everything that Hermione had told her it sounded to her as if that Charlie liked her too,as more than a friend, that is.

The week went by fast and she told her parents to visit her at the preserve in spring.

They readily agreed, though for different reasons. Her father was really curious about dragons and her mother was really curious about a certain dragon tamer.

XYX

Again it was a big change from sunny Australia to dreary England. It had snowed a bit for Christmas, but the last few days the rain had turned the snow into a mass of grey snow slush. The English weather certainly hadn't been something she had missed while away.

But her friends and surrogate family soon made her forget about the dreadfullness outside. Especially one friend made her feel warm inside. True it had only been a week since she last saw him but she had missed him nonetheless.

But soon Ron, Harry and Ginny monopolized her time and they had so much to talk about. Ron had started Auror training and enjoyed it immensely. He still didn't want to commit himself to a serious relationship but he had gotten a lot more careful after the polyjuiced guy.

Ginny was having the time of her life playing professional Quidditch. Hermione was quite surprised to see pictures and interviews of her in magazines (Harry collected them all).

Harry looked content, with Ginny in his arms and surrounded by his friends and surrogate family. Hermione was happy for them but couldn't help but send a wistful glance at Charlie now and then.

Charlie spend most of the time with Bill, she knew that they were really close. At the moment he had his little niece Victoire on his lap and was pulling faces to amuse her.

That made her wonder whether Charlie wanted his own family one day and for a short moment she imagined that little girl on his lap with a mop of bushy red hair on her head instead of the beautiful blond locks.

She really had to stop this line of thinking. He apparently wasn't interested in her that way, no matter what her mother thought and she should move on and not daydream about what their children might look like.

He chose exact that moment to look at her and give her a cheeky smile and a wink. Hermione turned beet red and threw herself eagerly into the discussion of her three friends about which team might be the biggest competion for Ginny's team about which Hermione was abolutely clueless of course.

Surrounded by all those people Hermione and Charlie didn't get to spend as much alone time as she would have liked. He seemed to seek her out though whenever she had a moment to herself.

He had asked her about her parents and told her about how Bruno and Hilda had grown and had already reached the size of a horse. Their fights had already gotten so intense that they had to put them in different enclosures during daytime, at night, however, they still wanted to snuggle with each other to fall asleep.

She also noticed how he would try to get a seat next or across from her at the table and how he would brush her arm with his, or touch her back lightly. She hoped his touches were as accidental as hers had been. Whenever their eyes met across the room he would wink or smile at her which caused the butterflies in her stomach to flutter and a silly grin to appear on her face that she couldn't get rid of for the next few minutes.

She was glad that Ron was his usual oblivious self and that Harry and Ginny were busy doting on each other, or they might have noticed something.

It seemed, however, that other people were not quite as blind as to what was going on between them, whatever that might be. Bill started to smirk at her in the most annoying way; and one day while she helped Molly in the kitchen the older women told her with a knowing smile, how happy she was that she and Charlie got along so well.

Of course Hermione's restless mind immediately went into overdrive and started to analize every smile, wink and gesture trying to find out what his intentions were. She had to admit though that she couldn't come to a conclusion and that it might be best to just tell him at least rudimentary how she felt about him. Or if the perfect moment arose maybe she could even kiss him (like the kiss between her and Ron).

Of course the perfect moment to kiss him never came up. And whenever she tried to tell him about her feelings or ask him about his, her Gryffindor courage flew straight out of the window, and she almost chocked on the words she didn't say.

So Hermione spend the fews days until New Year's day in a mixture of hope, giddiness whenever he smiled at her or brushed her arm and misery about her uncertainty.

The Weasleys had invited pretty much everyone they knew and liked for a big party on New Year's eve. They had put up a big tent in the garden behind the Burrow and it was Ginny's and Hermione's task to take care of the decoration.

While Hermione had something classy and unobtrusive in mind, Ginny seemed to think the more the better. The result was definitely colorful and Hermione later denied having anything to do with it.

There were lots of food and drinks and she enjoyed seeing friends from school and the order again and catching up with everyone.

Later some music was played and people started dancing. Hermione had danced with almost every male in attendance and she still hadn't seen Charlie anywhere. She got a little disappointed.

That was when two strong arms circled around her waist from behind and she heard a familiar voice whisper into her ear "care to dance?".

She turned around in his arms, already slightly tipsy from the punch and the music, and maybe that's the reason why she clung closer to him then she normally would have.

She was very aware of his arms around her, her hands on his shoulder and his intoxicating scent.

They kept dancing until it was time for the countdown and the start of the New Year. They stood with his arms around her waist and her hands on his shoulders.

_Ten_

He tipped her chin with his finger to make her look at him.

_Nine_

She suddenly became very aware of how close he was and blushed.

_Eight_

He gave her a smile that made her knees go weak.

_Seven_

She nervously started playing with his hair.

_Six_

He softly caressed her lower back.

_Five _

She started drowning in those beautiful eyes of his.

_Four_

He tenderly caressed her face before his fingers moved to play with her hair.

_Three_

She tightened her grip on him

_Two_

He pulled her closer to him.

_One_

They moved their heads until they're lips met for a tender first kiss.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: The HP universe belongs to J.K. Rowling

And another big thank you to my awesome beta Clover Bay!

This is the last chapter. A big thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, put me on story alert or on their favourite stories lists. I hope you enjoyed this :)

* * *

They were brought back to reality by the cheers around them. Those close to them cheered because they saw them kissing and the others celebrated the first moments of the new year.

Hermione smiled dazedly at Charlie and could only think of the one question that kept running through her mind:

"What took you so long to do that?"

Charlie chuckled and replied:

"Well at first I thought you were with Ron, then I wasn't sure whether I would be your type, but then just now, after several glasses of punch, I thought what the heck, I'm just gonna give it a try."

"I'm glad you did," Hermione giggled as she snuggled closer to him and pulled him down for another kiss.

XYX

Soon they had to go back to Romania. They stayed at their respective huts but spent many nights together in his or her room.

All the women told her with mock jealousy how lucky she was and Charlie considerably toned down his flirting with other women. He now used all his charm on Hermione, which turned her to mush (even later on in their relationship, whenever they had a fight Hermione wouldn't be able to stay angry at him for long when he gave her a flirty smile and started to caress her).

Hermione extended her contract of employment with the reserve until the end of July, so she would have a little over a month before university started. She was really looking forward to university now but thinking that she would have to leave Charlie made her heart grow heavy, so she tried not to think about that too much.

By the beginning of May her parents arrived for a visit. Hermione couldn't remember ever seeing her Dad so excited. When Charlie gave them the tour through the dragon preserve he kept asking one question after the other (so Charlie finally learned where she got that habit from).

Hermione showed them the preserve for plants where many plants had tentativley started to bloom already. That was a lot more to her mother's liking and her parents spend many hours walking around in the preserve or sitting in the grass snuggeling up to each other.

They didn't look like they've been together for more than twenty years but more like a young couple newly in love, but then again maybe not, they shared an intimacy and intitutive knowledge of what the other one was thinking and needing that comes with many years spent together.

She hoped Charlie and her would be like that too twenty years from now.

Charlie had instanty made a good impression on her parents. Her father was impressed with the reckless guy who handled those terrifying beasts, and her mother was taken in by his charm and easygoing nature.

Both were glad that their Hermione looked so healthy and happy.

Before they had to leave again they invited Charlie to come to Australia with Hermione the next time she visited them.

XYX

In no time her very last day of work at the preserve arrived and she had to bid farewell to everyone. Part of her was sad to leave that wonderful piece of earth and her new friends behind, part of her was excited to start a new chapter of her life (and to go back to studying).

Before she was to go back to England she and Charlie were going to spend a two weeks vacation in a charming old wizarding town in Sicily.

They spend their holiday exploring the island, cooling off in the sea if it got to hot, enjoying the wonderful food and making love.

All too soon the two weeks were over but luckily she wouldn't have to say goodbye to Charlie yet since he still had a few days off and would accompany her back to England.

When they arrived back at the Burrow, Molly had prepared a big feast and invited family and close friends. It was good to be see everyone again.

The next morning Charlie told her that he wanted to visit the twins for a bit and asked Hermione to come along. They flooed over and stepped into the twins messy living room.

"They must be downstairs in the shop," Charlie said with his eyes shining full of mischief.

Hermione secretly prayed that he hadn't teamed up with his brothers to pull a spectacular prank on her.

They went downstairs and said hello to Fred and George who were pretty busy since the shop was quite crowded with customers.

"Oh you know what, there's something I want to show you." With that Charlie pulled a wary Hermione behind him out of the shop.

They went down Diagon Alley and stopped in front of Flourish and Blott's where already an extravagant looking witch in a golden coat and with a black hat with blinking golden stars on her head was waiting.

Once they were near her, she said: "Good to see you Mr Weasley, are you ready for the tour of the flat?"

Then turning to Hermione she cried: "Oh, and that must be your lovely escort."

She shook Hermione's hand enthusiastically and after Charlie had introduced them to each other and the woman had insisted that Hermione called her Violet, they followed her through a little side entrance into the building of Flourish and Blott's.

Hermione was absolutely clueless as to why they were meeting a real estate agent and why they were going in there, but with her curiousity peaked she followed them inside.

While they were climbing the stairs, Violet told them that the house was owned by Mr Flourish and that Mr Flourish and Mr Blott respectivley lived in the flats on the first and second floor.

When they reached the top floor, Violet opened the door and they went inside. It was a small flat under the eaves with many nooks and crannies. There was a living room, a bed room and a small spare room that Hermione immediatley saw as her study. The kitchen and bathroom were tiny but the flat had a very homey feel to it that made Hermione feel comfortable right away. And the few was fantastic, she saw the whole Diagon Alley and even a small part of Muggle London.

After they had seen everything , they whisked Hermione away and a few blocks further down.

On the way she wondered, where Charlie was going with this. Did he want to get a flat for her? But she had planned to move in with Ron and Harry. Was he jealous, maybe he was against her moving in with them?

Soon they were in a small side street in front of a house that looked as if it has been renovated recently.

"Here we are," Violet said happily, "this house belongs to Mrs Allen, a lovely old lady. After her husband died and the children had all moved out, the house became to big for her alone, so she decided to have it remodeled into several flats."

Hermione followed her upstairs, still in wonder. This time they stopped on the first floor already. The second flat was slightly bigger and more modern. But Hermione missed that homey feeling she had in the other one.

After they had finished visiting the flat, they said goodbye and Charlie told Violet that he would come by her office the next day to tell her about their decision.

"What was…" Hermione started, but Charlie didn't let her finish. "I'm starving, let's go get something to eat."

They went to a small greek restaurant. After they had placed their order, Hermione couldn't wait any longer.

"Why were we looking at those flats? Do you want to rent a flat for me?"

"No, I don't want to rent the flat for you," Charlie looked at her with barely concealed amusement, "I'm renting the flat for us."

Hermione thought she hadn't heard right. "For us? But you'll be working in Romania."

"Not any longer. They are opening a new Dragon preserve in Wales by the end of this month and they asked me to work there as senior dragon tamer. So we could live here together and I floo to work and you to university everyday." By the end of his little speech Charlie had become a little uncertain, wondering if it had been such a good idea to surprise her with this, or if he should have asked her first whether she wanted to move in with him or not.

Hermione looked at him for a split second then what he said finally sank in and she ran around the table to hug and kiss him, not caring what the rest of the people in the restaurant would think of that spectacle.

The next day they went to Violet's office to tell her that they wanted the first apartment. Violet happily drew up the contract, handed them over the keys and said with a knowing smirk: "If you should ever need a bigger place, you'll know where to find me."

Charlie just smiled broadly at her, but Hermione blushed a bright red that rivaled her boyfriend's hair.

XYX

Only a few days later the flat was ready and they were able to move in. Their furniture were a combination of a few new things that they bought and a lot of older things that friends and family had donated to them

The happiness of the couple was only matched by that of Mrs Weasley who was beside herself that her little boy was finally back in the country and within coddle distance.

That night after they had made love for the first time in their new flat, Hermione snuggled closer to Charlie, listened to his even breathing and inhaled his wonderful scent and thought contentedly to herself, before she fell into a peaceful sleep:

Finally, even I got my happily ever after…


End file.
